The robot may look basic, but it's design is well thought out and its performance is exceptional

In the time between the two stages, upgrades were made and practice sessions organized. Two robots were compacted, optimizing them for the assault course. Another one had adjustments made to it so it could control the football easier. On top of this, there were control and electronic tweaks and upgrades to improve the performance of the robots. In addition to our six electric drill battery powered, wooden framed, fast and agile general purpose competitive bots, there were four additional robots that joined the squadron after the Northern Heat. Three of these were modified remote control cars. Classified military secret technology had been built into them that allowed a swift and seamless swap of a standard sized baton. After some practice, most of the team were ready to compete in the relay challenge. The last robot to be added to the squadron was a comical and ingenious egg carrier robot. It’s basically a robot with soft wheels and suspension across its chassis to support an egg across a bumpy track. Practice sessions were held at the cadets’ squadron hut for several Sundays prior to the event for everyone to hone their piloting ability with the various robots.

Robots these days are becoming so advanced they can even hold eggs without dropping them...

I was the only competing person there representing Peebles High School and the Engineering Club. Although Oliver Carson was also there, his CO insisted that he wear his Air Cadet uniform and represent his squadron. It felt kind of odd being the only civilian (technically) on the team, but we all gelled and concentrated on the important task of winning.

A decision had been made high up the chain of command that marked the end of the Typhoon robot squadron that had won many awards in the BBC’s Robot Wars and Techno Games over the previous years. A new Team of Robotics within the Edinburgh Air Cadets has now been formed. It’s first contest was the Robotic Games in Birmingham, but the team of Cadets in it will be doing many things in the months and years to come. The name of this new troop of elite robotiers has been carefully deliberated against many other possibilities. In the end, it was decided to name them the Rampaging Chariots. To be honest, I myself am not too fond of that name. On the team badges we were all wearing, the initials RC had been printed along with the relevant name (tragically, there was a typo and I ended up being Thomas Frazer for the weekend). Maybe there is a chance of RC suddenly meaning Robo Cadets (something myself and Olly came up with), but the one thing that does credit to the name Rampaging Chariots, is the way our team simply swept away all competition in the events we took part in.

This was a football match at the Northern Heat. It helped us prepare for what awaited us in the final

In the Assault course, a best time was almost immediately set by the team’s best driver. Over the course of the day not a single robot at the event could beat the incredible time of 21 seconds set by the cadet early on.

Similar success was met at the football challenge, in which the Rampaging Chariots came in First, Second and Third place with all of the teams it had entered. Unfortunately, there was no competition at the relay, so we won by default, without getting the chance to beat an opponent.

The assault course was a taxing test of the pilot's control ability

However, there wasn’t complete victory, as the egg and spoon race turned disastrous very suddenly. In hindsight, I could tell that we had the best robot. There were several other designs just like ours, with soft wheels and some form of suspension to protect the egg from falling. The Rampaging Chariot egg carrier was more efficient in that it was faster than the others, albeit by just a small amount. It could have stolen the race and won gold, but in a horrible loss of control, it veered to the right and toppled off the track. It was lifted back on and still achieved a good time, enough to make second perhaps. But we were penalized for de tracking and ended up in third place.

So we had successes and setbacks, but it wasn’t easy. Except for the relay, everyone faced a real challenge and won due to their practice and discipline. Our victory was fulfilling, in that all of our training and perseverance had paid off. The robots were well made but they weren’t perfect. Overcome the problems was one of the challenges. In his debrief, Peter Bennet said:

“It’s the difference between, in the Royal Air Force, a test pilot and a squadron pilot. You are squadron pilots at the moment: you take the piece of equipment and you have to overcome the faults of that equipment by skip, to achieve the best jump possible. A test pilot takes a piece of equipment and he operates it without applying that special skill, to identify what the problems are.”

The full team with all of the robots. The group supported each other well throughout the day, making things easier and more enjoyable

In the end we got 4 trophies and 9 team medals. Two of the trophies and medals were for first place in the football. Another gold medal and trophy was for the relay which was literally a one team contest. The last gold medal and trophy was for the brilliant time achieved in the assault course, and all of the other medals were for other places we won in the football and assault course, and our third place for the egg and spoon race.

Myself and Olly collect our medals for coming in third place in the football. We had an unfortunate semi final match, but bounced back to win the third place play off

Everyone who has taken part in this project has enjoyed it. Weather it was building the bots, scoring the winning goal, or just being there to witness it all, it was certainly a memorable weekend for everyone.

As for the Rampaging Chariots, the club’s partnership with them isn’t permanent. Now they have the project off the ground and the main robots built, the mission to Birmingham will likely be the only one in which a Civilian plays such and active role in the team. I’ve certainly enjoyed working with the cadets and admire how professional they were throughout the games.

However, I’m still to find out weather or not PHS could borrow a few of the robots for a day or two. I have the idea of having a robot football match: Mr Brown and Mr Fagen vs the Head Boy and Head Girl. It would be a good charity fundraiser if it’s possible to execute. Update to follow….